Buying a home in Roseville is not easy

What are the chances a house that has been on the market for over 200 days, built in the 70’s and has never been remodeled or even well maintained now has three offers to buy? I think something does not smell right. Has the Sacramento real estate market returned to the pre-2005 era where you put the house on MLS and headed to the fax machine to get the first offer?

I am a optimist by nature and trust people until they prove me wrong but I am having a hard time believing this particular property, out of the blue is in a multiple offer situation. Don’t get me wrong, the spring and summer have been busy and we have encountered multiple offers and in fact we have a listing now that has received four but it is a very cute house, clean, ready to move-in and we priced it very aggressively for a short sale to help the owner avoid a foreclosure.

It is almost impossible to know if another agent is not telling the truth about interest in the house. Not many will tell you that your client is the only one ever to show interest and I often hear that there may be another offer coming but when you are formally informed there is a multiple offer situation I have, in the past, believed it. For the first time, I am not sure and may not ever know the truth. My clients are thinking and I suspect we will respond to the request for “last and best” offer but we will not overpay for this one.

Sacramento's real estate market is not frozen!

Is the only way to get anything done in politically partisan Washington to declare an emergency, tell the world the sky is falling and create a three day “bipartisan period” to pass back room brokered deal that may cost the American taxpayer a trillion or more dollars? We thought getting a budget passed in Sacramento for California was ugly!

I clearly have my opinions about the bailout and you can read more about that in my Rocklin & Roseville Today column, “Bailout will be felt in Sacramento” but my main message today is to motivate you to let your Senators know how you feel about the bailout. Here is a link to their contact pages.

The local Sacramento real estate market continues to be busy. We are getting and making offers on homes regularly. The lower priced homes are being sold faster today than they have in the past few years but the market for homes over $600,000 remains pretty slow. I recently been looking for homes for sale in Old Roseville and the inventory is low. Some of the houses for sale in Old Roseville that my buyer is interested in have multiple offers. Guess these folks have not been watching Fox News.

Sacramento Real Estate News

While congressional leaders and the Bush administration work preparing a massive bailout of the US Financial system including a plan to allow banks to sell bad loans to a Resolution Trust like company, mortgage rates have dropped in Sacramento. The decline from 5.93 percent for a 30-year fixed to 5.78 percent for the week ending September 18 marks a seven month low.
As bank stocks are going up and their senior executives are anxiously waiting to sell their mistakes, I mean bad loans to the government. Some of these same bankers have instituted a policy of denying short sale applications that do not include the seller/borrower signing a note for some portion of the short sale. Based on our extensive experience with short sales this would, in the past, have created a situation where the seller will refuse to sign the note and the bank would take a larger loss. With the ability to pass these loans to the government it means lenders may be taking much harder line with short sales and increasing the burden on taxpayers.

Where else in the world can you make a mess and get rewarded for it?

I have a suggestion for candidate “change” and candidate “reform.” When one of you gets to Washington, let’s have a policy that says if a mid-level IRS agent can’t understand what a company is doing or how a particular derivative is an asset it should be illegal. Another reform or change should be if a company gets big enough that their failure will impact the economy it should be fined and immediately broken into smaller companies.

At least it is Friday, rates are low, and buyers are out looking at homes.

Wall Street, Sacramento and Hollywood

This week what is happening on Wall Street has captured my attention so my column over at Rocklin & Roseville Today, “More Bad News from Wall Street” is about being not overly optimistic about the financial crisis.

Per my blog on Monday, I have posted a guest article by Louise Buford of Partners Mortgage, “FHA—what is it and why should I consider this type of loan?” Louise is one of the lenders I work with who does what she says and when she says it. Sounds simple but it is what sets her apart from other lenders.

Finally, my singer and actress friend in Hollywood, Karmyn Tyler needs some help! The soundtrack for Karmyn’s original song, Luv Me So, has been entered into a contest for unsigned artists and each playing is a vote. Check out the great song here and help Karmyn. Each playing of the song is a vote so play it now and often. I think you will enjoy it. By the way you can learn more about Karmyn on her website, http://www.karmyntyler.com/.

Now Serving Sutter, Yuba and Colusa Counties

Check it out! We have officially opened an office in Plumas Lake with Stephanie McLaughlin to better serve clients in Sutter, Yuba and Colusa counties. Stephanie has now been with us for a few months and is ready to take the next step in building her business and expanding the MagnumOne Realty brand in these counties. We are continuing to provide individual customized services to buyer and seller ranging from those looking to buy their first home all the way to working with sellers who are trying to avoid foreclosure. We are pretty excited about this new development and if any of you know anyone thinking about buying or selling in our Northern serving area please let them know about Stephanie and our new office. Here is the MagnumOne Press Release that was sent out today.

Other News: We have our second guest article from Louise Buford of Partners Mortgage who is a certified loan specialist in FHA, CalPERS, CalFHA, VA and 203k FHA programs. With so much interest in FHA loans I asked her to write about what the FHA is and why you should consider this type of loan. I hope to have this published tomorrow on our news page.

Better Than New!

We have a brand new listing in Roseville. This home was built by one of the regions quality builder, Tim Lewis in 2007, and the sellers have done all the right things to make this new house a home. Located in the Altessa at Woodcreek gated community we are going to have an open house this Sunday, September 14th from 1 to 4 PM. If you are out and about and want to see a great home, come by 1553 Morning Glory Lane in West Roseville and take a look. The open house will be hosted by Darci Mercer.

September so far seems like a continuation of the higher than expected level of real estate activity. Normally we see a slow down as we get close to school starting and for about a month after as we all get used to starting a new school year. Our team at MagnumOne has been adding new listings and working with a number of buyers but nothing seems easy. We are seeing delays in closings due to new lender restrictions, other Realtors seem more difficult to contact and deal with, and on the short sale front, the lenders who seemed to be getting more cooperative a month or so ago are back to “do it our way or we will foreclose.” We are getting a few closed but for the first time we have lost a couple to foreclosure because the lenders were being difficult or slow to respond. The above mentioned listing is really nice, in a great location and we have some good experience with this particular lender so have high hopes for getting this one done quickly. Come by on Sunday and say hello to Darci.

Freddie, Fannie Takeover is Good

The Treasury Department’s move to takeover Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae over the weekend surprised me. But then again, when you give someone an open line of credit, maybe you want greater accountability and say in the overall management. Well that is exactly what happened and it appears to be a very good, if only for the short term, for the housing market. Read more about the takeover and what benefits we could see in my weekly column, “Takeover of Freddie, Fannie is Good for Short Term,” over at Rocklin & Roseville Today.

Other News: No surprise, should have expected it, September is busy. Not only has the local Sacramento and Roseville real estate markets remained active but getting back into the school and soccer routine has caused us a fair amount of angst this past week and there doesn’t seem to be much relief in sight. Always good to be busy!

End in Sight for Seller-Funded Down Payments

Prospective homeowners have until October 1, 2008, to use down payment assistance from a seller to purchase if they intend to finance the house with FHA backed mortgage.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 signed into law in July bars such seller-funded aid on Federal Housing Administration-backed mortgages. Lawmakers added the provision to the housing relief package because about 40 percent of FHA borrowers who went into foreclosure in the past year received down payment assistance from a seller.

The loss of programs such as Nehemiah and Hart which have been helping buyers use seller assistance with their down payment has the potential to keep some buyers out of the market at a time when sellers still outnumber buyers and how it impacts the Sacramento real estate market is yet to be seen.